


True North: a Between the Lines ficlet

by The_Honeyed_Hufflepuff



Series: Between the Lines [10]
Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: AGAIN do not send me your dental bills, Alternate Universe, Baz is busy analyzing the songs for meaning, Carry On Countdown (Simon Snow), Carry On Countdown 2019, DEC 22 - Frost, Date Night, Fluff, Frozen 2 (2019) Spoilers, M/M, Pillow Talk, Plans For The Future, Simon & Baz go see Frozen 2 lmao, Simon relates to Kristoff hard, also this is very corny, so there's that, they're also stupidly in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:48:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21893902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Honeyed_Hufflepuff/pseuds/The_Honeyed_Hufflepuff
Summary: Simon & Baz take a date night at the cinema. Expect idiots in love, Frozen 2, Simon in glasses, thoughts about the future, lyrical analysis, warm cuddles, & pillow talk.((set four years after the events of my ficBetween the Lines, though probably still enjoyable if you've not read that yet.))
Relationships: Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch/Simon Snow
Series: Between the Lines [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1464463
Comments: 25
Kudos: 204
Collections: Carry On Countdown 2019





	True North: a Between the Lines ficlet

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Carry On Countdown 2019 - Frost
> 
> This can probably take the crown for Corniest Thing I've Ever Written. But hope y'all like it. Let's see what Fit Idiot & Bookshop Bloke Baz are up to in the present day...

**December 2019**

**SIMON**

It was Baz's idea to watch _Frozen 2_ at the cinema.

Or he kept hinting at it, at least. I kept getting texts like, _When are you taking me to watch Frozen 2, Snow_? (The last one came in while we were literally sat next to each other on the sofa.) Which I guess is more than a hint…

It’s a hint that Baz is a lot softer than he lets on, that’s for sure. But I already knew that much. 

(I asked why we couldn’t wait and take Mordelia when we’re visiting his family for Christmas in a few weeks, and he just said we _were_ going to, but that he wanted to see it in a quiet auditorium without children first. So I guess Baz is either a sucker for Disney films or like, I don’t know...Kristoff.) (Can you _be_ attracted to animated people?)

Anyway, I’d never seen the first one. (“ _How the fuck?_ ” was Baz’s response when I told him so.) 

So he made me watch _Frozen._ Or, well. We watched _Frozen_ together. He made me pay attention instead of snogging him into the sofa (or shagging him into it), but I did get to lay my head in his lap and have him run his fingers through my hair, so that was nice. Also I _did_ enjoy the film. (Also I’m really not sure what everyone’s problem is with “Let It Go.” I thought it was a lovely song, really.) 

So that was a few days ago, and now we’re at the cinema watching the second one, and I’m not completely sure it was a great idea. 

I mean, we came at a good time; it’s the last showing on a weeknight. I still thought not being in an auditorium with kids’d be a fat chance, but it’s just us and one other couple. I just…

The whole... _thing_ with the parents in this film. I worry about Baz and his brain stuff. With his mum, I mean. 

Not that Baz isn’t strong. He’s the strongest person I know, and he rarely ever has trouble anymore. Or I guess I should say _it’s_ not so strong anymore, his brain stuff. He says it’s like an echo in the back of his head that he can just ignore most of the time. Says he’s lit a match so many times, the fire’s finally burning through him. 

Or something poetic like that. Baz also still reads a lot of books. 

Anyway. He seems fine, and when I lift up my armrest and nudge his shoulder, he leans into me and lets me put an arm around him. I kiss the top of his head and breathe him in, cedar and bergamot and _Baz_ , and my heart lurches for a split second. It’s nice to be out with him like this. It’s nice to _have_ him like this. Just…

I just love him so much. 

The film’s good so far. Kristoff’s well relatable in this one. Poor bloke can’t catch a break. Imagine that all you want’s to ask your girl to marry you, and you end up just...continuously fucking it up. Or, like, _life_ keeps fucking it up. (I hope to all fuck that’s not what happens to _me._ ) (I’ve been starting to think...well. I’m thinking maybe I might want to ask Baz to marry me.) (I mean, I _do_ want to ask, but I’m thinking maybe I might want to _soon_.) (We’ve been together four years; it’s not like that’s a short amount of time.) (Probably we should talk about that; I’m not sure that’s the sort of surprise he’d _like…_ ) 

God, what if I asked and Baz said _no,_ and then I was left alone in the woods somewhere surrounded by reindeer, singing a power ballad about how I’m lost without him? 

I haven't got a reindeer. I think the closest I've got is Dev bloody Grimm.

Dev would totally fucking sing background during my sad power ballad. 

I snort, because the whole idea’s well ridiculous. (Like, _why_ would we be in the woods in the first place?) (I guess there’s a lot of forest in Hampshire, but it’s not like I’m going to drag him all the way out there for a proposal.) Baz probably just thinks I’m laughing at this ridiculous scene, considering. He looks like he might start laughing soon himself. (He looks lovely, smiling like that.)

I think he almost cries when Elsa sings “Show Yourself.” His eyes are glassy when her mum starts singing with her, in any case. I’d say it’s a 180 of emotion, but that’s sort of been the whole film, to be honest. (He laughed like a madman when Olaf basically summed up the entire first film, which got me laughing like a madman, too. I always love seeing Baz laugh. Hearing it. It’s something else.) (And also I feel like that fucking story would’ve been sufficient for me to understand this film without watching the first, even if I _did_ like it.)

It’s a good film, all in all. Pretty songs. Ace visuals. Lots of emotional stuff. And like I said, it makes Baz laugh, which means it’s A-plus-plus in my book. And it’s got me thinking about him…

Anna says yes, in the end. Which goes to show that it’s fine for a proposal to go completely to shit. (I like that about these films; they sort of—whatsit— _subvert expectations._ I think that’s what Baz said when we watched the first one the other day. They’re more _real,_ even if they do have a wicked underwater horse demon thing.)

We sit through the end credits, because Baz says there’s an extra scene to watch afterward. When the other couple leaves, I pass the time by trailing kisses up Baz’s neck to the sound of Brendon Urie belting “Into the Unknown.” (Also A-plus-plus.) (The kissing, I mean. The song’s alright, too.) 

The scene after the credits has Baz giggling again, and I’m grinning. I can’t stop grinning, partly because it _is_ funny, but partly because of him…

The cinema’s cleared out by the time we leave the auditorium, and I’m feeling that strange way you do after watching a film on a big screen like that. Like I’ve just been pulled out of another world, I guess. 

I’m also feeling warm, even though it’s bloody cold outside when we get there.

I brush the side of Baz’s hand with mine. Thread my fingers through his. 

I wonder if he thought of me, during all those failed proposal scenes. I wonder if he _wants_ this. (Us. Not a bunch of failed proposals.) It’s not like we’ve never thrown the idea around. You sort of _have_ to, after you’ve been together a bit, yeah? I mean, we _live_ together. We come home to each other. I suppose that’s pretty close to being married already...

I squeeze Baz’s hand with mine as they swing between us. “What’d you think? Of the film?” 

He’s just nodding. 

“That little salamander was well adorable,” I say. 

Baz snorts. “ _That_ was a fire spirit, Snow. Or weren’t you paying attention?” 

“I _know._ Still bloody cute, it was.” 

“Don’t think I didn’t hear you squealing every time it came on screen.” 

“I didn’t _squeal_.” 

“What would you call it, then?” 

I shrug. “Humming. With delight.” 

“ _Humming with delight_.” 

“Yeah. S’what I expect to make you do later.” 

He’s giving me the side eye, and a quirked eyebrow, and a little smirk. _Good._

I squeeze his hand again. (I'm thinking about what it'd feel like if he had a ring on his finger.) “That scene with Kristoff singing was—fucking _hell._ ” 

Baz huffs a laugh, a billow of mist pouring from his nostrils. “It was certainly _something_.” 

I’m biting my bottom lip as we walk through the carpark. My truck’s easy enough to spot, and when we get there I follow Baz to the passenger side instead of breaking off. He jumps in surprise when I press him gently back against the door. I hold his hips against the truck and stop his words with my mouth. (Probably he was about to say, “ _What’re you doing, Snow_?”) He takes me by my hips and pulls me closer, too. It’s dark out, and it’s a weeknight; this carpark’s deserted. It’s just the two of us, or near enough. Just me and Baz. 

I press my body up against his, and slip my tongue into his mouth, and when I set my hand against his jaw, he flinches and smiles against my lips.

“Cold fingers,” he mumbles.

I work both my hands between his body and the truck, then slip them down into the back pockets of his trousers.

“Cheeky,” he says.

I give him a squeeze. “Yep.” I nudge his nose with mine—they’re cold, too—and give him another kiss, soft and slow. Then I pull back to look at him. My glasses are a bit fogged over, but I can still make out how lovely he is. Dark hair falling in waves over his shoulders, grey eyes blown near-black, flushed skin. (I’m not sure if it’s me doing that, or the weather.) (Both, maybe.)

“ _You’re_ my true north, y’know,” I tell him. 

Baz raises an eyebrow at me. (Of course.) “Snow. Are you trying to seduce me by quoting Disney lyrics at me?” 

I shrug. “Wasn’t supposed to be a seduction. Not yet, anyway.” I squeeze his arse again. “But we’ll go with that if that’s what you want.” 

“Well. Would you mind taking me home and seducing me there? Or would that be too warm for you?”

“That sounds good, actually. Could always go for a nice, warm seduction.” 

He rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling. 

* * *

We’re in our bed, and it’s _warm_ , and Baz is curled in to me as I stroke my fingers up and down his arm. His hair’s a tousled, beautiful mess across his pillow and my shoulder. 

“I have to say, when I said I’d make you hum with delight, I didn’t expect it to be so bloody _loud._ ”

“Fuck you, Snow.” 

“You already took care of that, didn’t you?”

“You’re a nightmare. I don’t know why I agreed to any of this.”

“To what?”

“Living with you. Fucking you. All of it.” 

“Loving me?” 

“Yes, well. That’s implied.” 

“I thought it was the glasses, to be honest,” I say. (I’m still wearing them.) 

“They certainly help.” 

I pull him in closer and wrap my other arm around him, too. He sets one warm hand against my chest and huddles in, hitching one long leg over both of mine. His foot is rubbing up and down my calf, and his toes aren’t cold against my skin because the toff still has socks on. (They’re mint-coloured with green t-rexes printed on.) (The jumper on the floor’s mint, too.) 

We’re quiet, and it’s lovely. All I hear is the dull hum of the heater running, the wind rustling through the trees outside. Baz’s breath as it puffs against my skin. 

I’m thinking we’ll fall asleep like this, but then he says, "I've always. Well." He's tracing patterns against my chest with his fingers, and I’m thinking about how a ring’d look on him again. 

I nudge him. "Yeah?"

“Oh. It’s nothing.”

“Yes it is.” 

“It’s marginally stupid.” 

“I doubt it.”

“Fine.” Baz sighs. “Obviously ‘Let It Go’ is about Elsa coming into herself, saying _fuck it_ to the masses, I’m different and that’s _fine._ That’s _good_ —”

“Are you really breaking into a post-shag literary analysis?” 

“No, Snow; ‘Let It Go’ is a _song,_ for fuck’s sake—”

“You know what I mean—”

“ _Yes._ ” He stops stroking my leg with his foot and half-nudges, half-kicks it instead. “I’ve always thought of those lyrics as...well. Relating to mental health.” 

I go over the lyrics in my head. “Yeah,” I say. “Yeah, I can see that.” 

“Okay.”

“Okay…”

“So I went into the film expecting another song like that.” 

“Yeah?”

“God, this is stupid…”

“It’s not!” 

“It makes a lot more sense in my head.” 

“Go on, then!”

He sighs again. “It’s ‘Show Yourself,’ in this one. It’s about being your own hero, basically. That the power to be your best self is inside you. That you’re strong enough to face your demons and overcome them.”

“That’s deep, love.” 

“Fuck you.”

“I’m serious!” I squeeze him to me. “I love your deep mind.”

“It’s the entire point of the film.”

“So what you’re saying is you _didn’t_ drag me to the cinema because you’re hot for Kristoff.”

“ _What_?” He props himself up and stares down at me. 

“Are you?” I ask.

Baz huffs and rolls his eyes. “That’s beside the point—” 

“You _are_!” 

"I've a type, it seems. Fit and blundering." He settles back onto my chest and huffs, and for some reason I feel like I've won _something._

"He's not got the glasses, though," I tease.

"No, Snow. He surely does not."

I think of what Baz said, about the songs. He's been through a lot, and he really _has_ shown himself how to pull through it all, stronger in the end.

I'm glad I've gotten to see it.

I press another kiss into his hair. "Am I your true north, then?"

He snorts. "Why can't things ever go poetically unsaid with you, Simon Salisbury?"

"Because I want you to say it. And because you’re mine."

"Bloody—"

"You've actually, literally just waxed near poetic about song lyrics and meaning. Give me this one, will you?"

" _O_ _bviously._ "

"No," I tease again. (I mean, I'm half-teasing. I really do want him to say it.) " _Say it._ "

"You're insufferable."

"Maybe. But am I also your _you know what_?"

"Bleeding hell—"

"Say it!"

" _Yes,_ Simon bloody Salisbury. You're my fucking true north. _Please don't make me say it again._ "

I've got a smug smile on my lips, even though he can't see it.

I kiss him at his temple. "And you're mine."

**Author's Note:**

> Am I once again inserting myself into BTL Baz? Of course I fucking am. 
> 
> [Lost in the Woods](https://youtu.be/qiGcfay5jNY) (ie. Kristoff/Simon's sad power ballad)  
> [Show Yourself](https://youtu.be/qiGcfay5jNY) (ie. Baz's new mental health bop)  
> [Into the Unknown](https://youtu.be/jp-CVYGEsjg) (Brendon Urie version ie. the song Simon made out with Baz's neck to during the credits)
> 
> Only two more days of the countdown to go! Catch me trying not to freak out as I scramble to get these last two prompts written. Teehee. 
> 
> Come say hi to me on [Tumblr!](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/thehoneyedhufflepuff) I'm a disaster over there.


End file.
